I've noticed that the scrolling causes 'tearing' of the game display on some machines. This seems to depend on the operating system and/or the JRE version (it doesn't happen on Vista with Java 1.6, for instance). Sorry if this is an annoyance.

Cool game, the way the instructions are introduced is very good. I hate not being able to just play something straight away because the controls are weird, but yours are fine. the way those birds accelerate just kept on getting the better of me unfortunately. The way the screen keeps moving even when you die makes the game feel fast-paced which is great.

I reckon the background colour scheme is a bit off though. A nice sky texture with faded layers of mountains and parallax scrolling would be cool I think.

The background made me want to claw my own eyes out, but it was actually somewhat addictive.

The fire rate feels slightly too slow. Ideally, I'd like to be able to hold fire and have the game automatically fire at the rate it's possible to fire now, but if I manually tap fire, it'd shoot up to 50% faster.

Ouch! That's not good. Seems to be something going wrong with BufferStrategy? I'll have a proper look at the output later.Simon

That's likely, because the window was rapidly changing in size and appearance as the game started up, just before it died. It may have been attempting to switch resolution or something and just couldn't.

That's likely, because the window was rapidly changing in size and appearance as the game started up, just before it died. It may have been attempting to switch resolution or something and just couldn't.

I have two theories as to what's going wrong:1) There's some problem with BufferStrategy that comes from having used JDK1.6 to compile code for Java1.5. I don't know if that's plausible, but it may be something to try.2) There's some code in the game that allows the 512x384 window to be resized to 1024x768 and back. (Don't ask why, it's a long story, and it's a very old bit of code.) Since you mention the window rapidly changing size, it's possible that that code's going crazy for some reason. (It's possible that it's never been tested on a Mac before.)

Could I ask you to try running the two other games I linked to at the top of the thread? (And then try launching Bug Bomb again, just to make sure it's still broken!) The two old games both use the same resizing code that I used in the new game, so if they work okay then that rules out Theory 2. Also, they were built with JDK1.5 so if they do crash then that rules out Theory 1.

The fire rate feels slightly too slow. Ideally, I'd like to be able to hold fire and have the game automatically fire at the rate it's possible to fire now, but if I manually tap fire, it'd shoot up to 50% faster.

That's a decent suggestion, but for me one of the most fun bits of the game is being able to drop a bomb precisely in the middle of a big cluster of baddies. I think that would be lost if I upped the firing rate.

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Nice boss fight. =)

I meant to ask whether the game difficulty is too high for people to make it to the boss level. I guess it's not. (Either that, or you're a hard-as-nails shoot'em-up ninja! )

I have two theories as to what's going wrong:1) There's some problem with BufferStrategy that comes from having used JDK1.6 to compile code for Java1.5. I don't know if that's plausible, but it may be something to try.2) There's some code in the game that allows the 512x384 window to be resized to 1024x768 and back. (Don't ask why, it's a long story, and it's a very old bit of code.) Since you mention the window rapidly changing size, it's possible that that code's going crazy for some reason. (It's possible that it's never been tested on a Mac before.)

Could I ask you to try running the two other games I linked to at the top of the thread? (And then try launching Bug Bomb again, just to make sure it's still broken!) The two old games both use the same resizing code that I used in the new game, so if they work okay then that rules out Theory 2. Also, they were built with JDK1.5 so if they do crash then that rules out Theory 1.

Thanks for the testing!Simon

I've tried out the other two games and they work fine.

I tried Bug Bomb and it exploded again. A more descriptive description:1) Splash screen opens.2) Window opens and spazzes out.3) Program dies.

I just tried it on a Mac with Java 1.6, and the game ran successfully.

That's a decent suggestion, but for me one of the most fun bits of the game is being able to drop a bomb precisely in the middle of a big cluster of baddies. I think that would be lost if I upped the firing rate.

I meant to ask whether the game difficulty is too high for people to make it to the boss level. I guess it's not. (Either that, or you're a hard-as-nails shoot'em-up ninja! )

You're probably right about the fire rate.

The game WAS kinda hard, but not too hard. The thing that killed me the most were the ones dropping from the ceiling until I figured out how to time them.The boss fight ate me alive the first time, but I quickly figured out that the trick was to not hesitate.

Love the incoming shots before facing the boss. Very Super Mario Bros. =)

Nice work, japcu! Sorry that getting it to compile is a bit of a job. I probably should write proper compilation instructions -- but if I make too much work for myself I'd never get around to uploading the source at all.

By the way, if you're wondering where the sound effect (OGG) files are, you can extract them from the game's JAR file. But I bet a smart cookie like you had that figured out already!

Just came across this little hidden gem, I think it is very nicely executed with a brilliant level of polish.

+1 point if the game installs and uninstalls correctly+1 point if the game doesn't crash ever+1 point if the game is slickly presented+1 point if the game has "good" graphics that suit the game+1 point if the game has "good" sound that suit the game+1 point if the game's overall style is "good"-1 point if the game is original or brings a great new original twist+1 point if your judge enjoyed playing the game+1 point if the game is complete enough that doesn't feel anything is missing+1 point if you don't whine and you demand nothing of the mods (simply saying "can you rate my game please" is fine)

I'm very late to the party, but... Seems to me that maybe BufferStrategy.show() doesn't like being called outside the AWT thread.

Hi, pjt33. Did it crash for you as well? I'd been hoping that that problem was unique to Demonpants. (No one else has mentioned the crash -- but maybe that's because not many people have played the game. )

It's true that BufferStrategy.show() is being called outside the AWT thread, but I thought that was the recommended approach (i.e., kick off a game thread that sits in a loop updating the game state, updating the display, calling BufferStrategy.show(), and waiting for a bit). Have I got that wrong? Is there a better way of setting up a game loop?

Can you use a button other than control for attacking? Control + Arrows on Mac is a hotkey for swapping virtual desktops, i.e. not only does the game lose focus but it goes completely bye-bye. It makes it impossible to play.

I found the controls a little bit sluggish. A few times I would be holding a key down and the player wasn't moving. I tracked this down to be that if the <ctrl> key is held down, none of the movement keys seems to work.

Very polished and I really like how the game keeps flowing even before you start or after you die!

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